So-called "instant" milk pudding powders have long been available for the preparation of puddings by stirring powder into the milk. Such powders generally contain pregelatinized starch, sugar, gelling agent, and flavouring and colouring.
Although these instant products are popular there has been an increasing market for ready-to-eat milk puddings, either chilled or refrigerated. Vegetable and/or microbial gums, together with carrageenan, have been employed as gelling agents for this category of products. Such gums and carrageenan are well known and are described in the literature, for instance in the "Handbook of Food Additives" published by the Chemical Rubber Company.
British Patent Specification Nos. 1220696 and 1220838 disclose essentially a thickening system, but also containing carrageenan and locust bean gum in small quantities. U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,367 discloses the use of a particular composition of guar gum, xanthan gum, carrageenan and locust bean gum as a stabilizing agent for milk shakes and soft frozen desserts, which remain stable for about ten days.
Heretofore gelled milk compositions, such as those referred to above, have suffered from the disadvantage that they have a limited shelf-life, even if sterile and stored under refrigeration, due to undesirable syneresis (the separation of liquid) and changes in texture. Such compositions are inconvenient to distributors and retailers as well as to the housewife since they require refrigeration and/or have a short "sell by" date.
The present invention, therefore, sets out to provide a shelf-stable, ready to eat, gelled milk composition which combines the convenience of previous gelled milk compositions with a longer shelf-life more characteristic of sterilized milk products.